Question Number: 10090

Law 6 - Assistant Referee

RE: Grade 7, USSF High School

Tommy O'Brien of San Jose, CA USA asks...

Assistant Referees are asked to wait before signalling Offside and fouls. AR's wait for several reasons. Is waiting for "advantage" one of those reasons, and, if so, is it not true that AR's apply the advantage rule during the course of the game, even though we commonly associate this only with the Center Referee who verbally communicates 'Play On' and visually pushes arms/hands out in the familiar gesture..Put another way, is advantage only applied by the center referee?

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Tommy the Laws of the Game allow the referee to refrain from stopping play when, in his opinion, to do so would assist the team that just committed a foul. Assistant referees do not have this power. They are expected to assist the referee by calling his attention to foul play. The wise assistant notes what fouls the referee is giving and calls attention to those. He also understands that he is a referee as well and some things must be called whether the referee is calling them or not. ..A very wise assistant referee will know when he is working with a referee that doesn't call many fouls and will try to get his flag up early so the referee can wave him down, this shows the players that the referee isn't going to use too much assistance! That way the players don't get unhappy with you when you don't intervene. ..Because the assistant is a referee he can see when advantage should be applied and he may do so, when needed, by not raising his flag. This works very well and is transparent! ..Wait and see before signalling for an offside infraction is what we must do. When more than one player is going for the ball and one is offside we must wait and see if the offside player is the one to play the ball, if there is just the one offside player moving toward the ball we must make sure no one else can get to the ball and he is attempting to play it, if a player is returning from an offside position we must wait and see if he actually plays it. We wait and see we don't raise the flag straight away.....Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Dawson

Hi Tommy,.Jeff Winters the former professional EPL referee from England during a training seminar while on tour here in Canada ran a middle for our top league. It was enlightening to see three different incidents that I had not yet experianced and then quizz him on the whys of his actions...In the one game Jeff twice blew for VERBAL impeding and no card was shown. While an INDFK was awarded no card was produced. Jeff claimed no card was needed and if it made me feel better I could think it as playing in a dangerous manner. ..Many instructors teach that if you stop play for someone yelling into a players ear in this case ARRRGH! must be classified as USB and a card MUST be shown. .An indirect free kick is also awarded to the opposing team if a player, in the opinion of the referee:._ commits any other offence, not previously mentioned in Law 12, for which play is stopped to caution or dismiss a player.. .In the second half he had the ARs switch sides so they were calling the offside on the same attacking team as in the first half. One coach went ballistic claiming this was against the law, which it is not and blatantly unfair which again it is not..Jeff felt that the ARs integrity is not in question and since each AR learns the attacking style of one team and the defending style of the other team why try to figure it out on the reverse when teams switch. ..The third item was directly connected to your query on ARs and Advantage. Jeff was greatly impressed with the calibre of our ARs. In point of fact the best AR in the world or at least one who has universal respect and credability at the world level from those who work with him, Hector VERGARA is a Canadian... A very long clearing ball caught Jeff on the full run 40 yards out. The ball landed directly in front of the AR, the 2nd last defender and attacker fighting for ball posession. After a highly physical yet 50 50 scrum the 2nd last defender gained position and blocked the attacker to come away with the ball travelling upfield. The attacker reached out as he followed and grabbed the left side of the 2nd last defender's shirt and pulled while catching the back of the 2nd last defender's ankle with his boot. This was POSSIBLY unseen by the referee still running in from now about 20-15 yards away. The sprinting 2nd last defender pulled free looking back at the attacker and towards the AR. The AR while sprinting and keeping pace with the 2nd last defender could see the 2nd last defender after having been fouled was running clear with no other opponent nearby and an opportunity to run upfield at least 20 yards or so into the opponents's half. The AR likely noted the 2nd last defender appeared upset more so at the ankle bite than the grab but to my surprise I plainly heard the AR shout "ADVANTAGE! PLAY ON! one hand palm up, one arm fully extended the other hand grasping the flag at his side. ..Later in the match the same AR raised a flag and waved it to indicate an attacker while running past the defender had used his arm to direct the ball by the defender. Jeff was less than 10 yards away. ..Jeff stated on both occasions he was not positioned to see either incident correctly and PRAISED the AR for both the non call of the kick/pull foul by correctly applying advantage which may have prevented retailiation by the opponent and the deliberate handling call which was called as spot on! ..The concept of waiting on offside has me a bit leary even though I get understand the wait and see of what happens. I rather think of it as NO FLAG until it is needed rather than ensure the referee agrees with you! For an AR my instructions are, on Offside WHEN the criteria is met you raise the flag. ..I feel an AR has room to use advantage on incidents that occur DIRECTLY in front of him. By simply letting the player fouled know in some manner that he saw it but you have control, now get going. I think retailiation is lessened and the players involved the foulie and the fouler know your eyes are on them as well. ..I will tell my ARs if I an close to the play and in position give me a shot but if you feel I missed it and you have no doubts then raise the flag. Nothing beats clear pre game instructions, good communication, eye contact, and a belief in each other whereby the AR and referee understand the match, the laws, the players and the spirit of the game in the same way! Cheers

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 15838